I might agree with on the extent that some are. If a great deal of thought is put into it ( image, location,I prefer custom artwork) the work can look outstanding. I have never had one put on myself, that I didn't ponder it for a great deal of time.

I have a W tattooed on each butt check. When I do a cartwheel
you see wow-mom-wow.

Damn the visual imagery of naked man cartwheels. shudders

I have an astrological tattoo which I've come to discover (thanks, History channel) means nothing, but it's not a big deal. My only regret is that I didn't make my other one larger. And I regret the prevalent social stigma of tattoos keeping me from getting my next one (the boss says it wouldn't go over well and wouldn't have hired me if I'd had it when applying here). That's lame.

I have two that I don't regret at all (well, other than the fact that I have occasional allergic flareups to the ink!). While I was waiting to get my second one, I was roped into a conversation with another gal, waiting to get inked. Bless her - I bet she regrets hers! She was getting her boyfriend's name tattooed on her chest. She had known him, less than a month! But, ya know...she was taken in by his line that he was an actual prince. She was on her cell phone, arguing with a friend who tried to talk her out of it. The tattoo artist, also tried to talk her out of it. But, she went through with it. They talked so much smack on her, when she left the shop.

O-Bob: That's the best memory-jogger yet. There was a On the Hill insert about body art sometime last year that my Chinese class stumbled upon while at our usual table waiting for class to start. On one lady's foot were proudly displayed three characters 公司事, with the caption that "she didn't like to tell people what it means, she liked it to be an intimate secret." The characters spelled out the romantic, and so erotic, message: "company affairs." (affair, situation, happening, the last character)

We asked our professor if there was anything we were missing, and she assured us that there wasn't, so we felt qualified to laugh for a spell.

/my character is the male half of the mythological bird of wind, generally translated as the phoenix. Apparently it also meant peacock by the time it got to Korea, but that's not my responsibility.

"....The child is amoral. To our eyes, the Papuan is too. The Papuan kills his enemies and eats them. He is not a criminal. But when modern man kills someone and eats him he is either a criminal or a degenerate. The Papuan tattoos his skin, his boat, his paddles, in short everything he can lay hands on. He is not a criminal. The modern man who tattoos himself is either a criminal or a degenerate. There are prisons in which eighty per cent of the inmates show tattoos. The tattooed who are not in prison are latent criminals or degenerate aristocrats. If someone who is tattooed dies at liberty, it means he has died a few years before committing a murder...."

I have seven - don't regret any of them, but some are in places I wish I could change. I made sure when I got each of mine that it was for a reason that meant something truly meaningful to me (not my favorite band or cartoon character, etc.), NO NAMES, and ones I'd always be proud to show or share with others. If you're going to get them, you'd better really think about it first. All these young kids getting them because they think they are cool is a sad commentary on what I feel is a really beautiful art form.

I think what bums me out these days is that the meaning behind the art has been lost because it's become the "fad" of the moment. Getting a tattoo should mean something... it should affect you and the pain associated with it should be a rite of passage to attain the goal of the inner meaning of your tat. It's been cheapened and mainstreamed, and I think that's a shame. JMHO

Bluegrass was a sea of tats. Almost you were the odd duck out if you didn't have one. Of course we camp where all the young folks are. Wild and crazy. I was going to get one once. It was going to be Ruby Slippers. Ihad planned to put it right above my right breast. I decided not to, only because I figured that in a few years they would be Ruby Boots. hahaha

I only have three and don't regret them at all. Just got my latest, and final, last night, actually. Joe, u did a great job (Joe's Body Art, everyone, I highly recommend him). It still hurts like hell but that's why the good lord gave us jack daniels. :)